BY ANTHONY A. MESTAS |
Former Bishop Arthur N. Tafoya will be laid to rest Tuesday following a funeral service expected to draw hundreds of people. Former Bishop Arthur N. Tafoya will be laid to rest Tuesday following a funeral service expected to draw hundreds of people.
Tafoya, the Catholic leader of the faithful in Pueblo and surrounding counties in the Diocese of Pueblo for 29 years, died early March 24. He was 85.
The bishop was in hospice care at his home in Albuquerque, N.M., when he passed away.
The funeral will be held at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart at 10 a.m., but it will be able to accommodate only the family of Tafoya, clergy, religious and designated guests. The church holds only 400 people.
The diocese said Memorial Hall at 1 City Hall Place will be open to the public at 8 a.m. for participation in the Mass through a live broadcast. Communion will be transported from the Cathedral to Memorial Hall for distribution. Memorial Hall has a capacity of 1,600.
Bishop Stephen Berg, the current leader of the diocese, said it was Tafoya's wish to hold his funeral services at the historic Cathedral, 414 W. 11th St.
Diocese officials said that once the anticipated 2-hour Mass ends, the bishop's motorcade will travel South down Grand Avenue from the Cathedral, then take a left on Alan Hamel Avenue to pass by Memorial Hall and travel along the East end of the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo to Santa Fe Avenue.
The procession will continue on Santa Fe to Aspen Road, where Roselawn cemetery is located.
Photos courtesy of Anthony Mestas, The Pueblo Chieftain
